The Memoirs of a Bunny: Ten Years of Internet Socialisation

Hello, everyone!

This will be an odd post, but please bear with me.

Back in 2015, due to some health issues I had to remain at home for many months. I mean, literally. I couldn’t go for a walk, or anything like that. So, after watching too many anime, I started looking for books to read, and I also started thinking about joining a social media platform.

There weren’t that many options back then. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram.

Forget the last two. Not very conversation-oriented, as far as I could tell. And what would I post? Photographs of my ceiling?

Facebook was also out of the question. I don’t post face photos. I don’t allow friends and family to take face photos of me. I don’t even get photographed in weddings and occasions like those. It’s easier for my friends to have photos of my bare ass, than of my face.

Okay… some of you have a very innocent mind and thought I was kidding, and some of you have a lovely naughty mind and read too much into it. 😜

Both groups are wrong, though. Two of my friends have taken photos of me, from behind, while I was playing on the beach, or entering the sea. 😇

So Facebook was really off. Add to this its censorship, and it was way far off!

Tumblr, then, was pretty open-minded, but those big posts were terrifying. I kept it in mind, and joined it later, although due to its later new-found censorship I abandoned it. And no, the fact that now, after its downfall, it decided to re-open its mind isn’t enough for me to return there.

The Bunny Joins the Fun

So, I joined Twitter. A lovely blank profile page, and an equally lovely egg avatar. I stared at those for a few days and did nothing.

I had no idea about hashtags and how to use them for search, and Twitter’s suggestions were very out of my interests. So, yeap, I didn’t do anything much. Changed that egg, though.

At the same time, I was also trying to find some books to read. Amazon was “kind” enough to refuse my Greek card because of the financial crisis in Greece. I didn’t have much money in my British card. Not just Amazon, but most online shops wouldn’t accept a Greek card. Other than Greek shops, of course. But Greek bookshops didn’t have gay romances.

So, I thought of searching Play Store. And that’s how I came across Wattpad. Some other apps, too, but only Wattpad and Oodles Books were not uninstalled moments after installation.

That was the 3^rd of August 2015.

Then I found out that, on Wattpad, other than reading stories I could also publish mine. And it allowed my genre, too. I found that fascinating. Until then, I was writing only for myself to read.

So, I published “To Johnny with love”. And advertising that, on Twitter, was the first tweet I’ve ever made. Thanks to Wattpad I found out what the hashtags were, too, which helped me with searching for interesting tweets and people on Twitter.

The Bunny gets a Like

In a few days I followed a bunch of people. Most of them authors, and some of them people who were posting more… exciting things. 😏

Amongst the authors, a few followed back, and, even amongst those few, only a handful – and on rare occasions – would care to like a reply to one of their tweets. On the other hand, the sexy accounts were much friendlier. No follow-backs but they liked the replies, and even reply to them, quite often. One exception amongst them – and in a good way – was Blue Jacket who actually followed me back and he became my second follower. A wonderful person – or piece of clothing – too. Unfortunately, inactive now.

Then, one random night, in early October, I ordered a pizza, from a pizzeria I had never ordered before. It was delivered by an amazingly cute hottie! The pizza itself was… let’s call it mediocre. So I tweeted this:

“I ordered pizza from a new place. The pizza was awful. The pizza boy was hot. I’ll order again.”

No image, or anything. The whole tweet was written in a line… A tweet that had every reason to pass unnoticed by everyone. I just wanted to share the news. Remember, I was stuck at home (although by then, I could go out to buy cigarettes and the like).

And soon after, a “huge” account – about 5k followers then, but I didn’t even have 20, so you can understand – Kris, whom I didn’t follow, liked and replied to that message. And he even followed me!

I couldn’t believe it! I still remember myself looking at the screen and trying to convince myself this actually had happened.

I followed him back, of course, and never regretted it. He has been the only porn account – Blue Jacket’s is sexy, but not porn – that I always included in my very rare #FF tweets.

Unfortunately, he, too, is now almost inactive on Twitter, and hasn’t been truly active for some years. But, back then, if you had happened to check his “Tweets and Replies” tab, you could see that he was a very sweet and very caring person. Sexually playful too, but he would say words of support to random people who had problems, as well.

My Twitter

To be honest, I don’t know if I would have stayed on Twitter if Kris and Blue Jacket hadn’t supported me so early on. Not a huge support, you may say, but for me it was. Not to mention that both of them – especially Blue Jacket – have stayed and interacted with me over the years, as well.

Then some other beautiful people came, as well. Authors, now – but still, people who didn’t care that someone with a two-digit number of followers was bugging them and talking too much to them. Instead, they welcomed me.

Here are these wonderful people in the order they followed me:

Jessica Calla (link goes to her Amazon page, for she left Twitter)

She was the first author who actually paid attention to me – and even supported me. Imagine what the support of a person who has a big account can do to the psychology and mentality of someone who has an account of barely twenty followers! And that was not marketing. Jessica is an extremely sweet person and she has supported quite a few newbies.

Viola Down (link goes to her WordPress because her twitter account is private)

I think, at first, Viola found me more annoying than not, but she still was friendly. I only think that because, after getting to know her better, she did become friendlier. But, then again, maybe she needs some time to feel more comfortable. I do, too.

Elizabeth Drake (link goes to her Amazon page, for she left Twitter and WordPress)

Elizabeth’s support for my writing was constant from the start. So much so that she was the first person that made me feel that not only she liked having me as a follower, but, also, that she considered me one of her important followers.

Paula Houseman (link goes to her Amazon page, because her Twitter and site are inactive)

Paula had an even bigger account than Jessica. Like ten times bigger. On top of that she was a pro at managing that account. So, honestly, I liked her right away, but I never thought she paid any attention to me. She included me in her #FF tweets, but I thought this was part of her professionalism. Then, one night (for her it was morning, probably) I posted a tweet (again only words) about an issue I had and couldn’t write a story I was working on, at the time. And Paula replied and gave me advice. I must say, she shocked me, and in a very good way. From then on, I kept on bugging her even more. 😇

Rosetta Yorke (link goes to her Twitter, but here is her Amazon page, too)

I don’t know what to say about Rosetta. After a few interactions between us on an account we both followed, she decided to follow me back, and, from then on, she has supported me in every possible way. Including persuading me (or trying to) that I can actually draw. She is simply amazing.

And last, but not least, an “odd” person followed me. Unlike all the previous authors, she is a sci-fi author. Not too young either. In other words, not at all someone I would have expected to like a loony bunny who writes steamy gay romances and he doesn’t even try to talk properly, but uses too many “shit”s and “fuck”s. Yet, this beautiful lady didn’t give shit! Ehm… I meant to say, she didn’t care at all. 😋 And this person is acflory. (The link leads to her WordPress, but here is her Amazon page as well.)

After these amazing people other amazing people also came, but, by then Twitter was already my “home”. And I owe this to the astonishingly awesome eight people I’ve mentioned.

Did you notice the oddity?

I am a gay romance writer, and my characters are usually around 18 years old. At the time, “1000” had been published and “Gregory Kirk” had started being released, and both these books have high-schoolers as protagonists.

I thought, for sure, that the people who might find my stories interesting would be young guys. On the contrary, as you’ve seen, my biggest supporters have been women and not even teenage girls.

Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not complaining. Not at all!

What I mean is, these people taught me that my world-view had been limited. Thank you for this lesson, too.

The Return of the Bunny

Due to several issues I’ve been on and off with my socialising and online activity – repeatedly – over the past few years. But now, after a year and a half of absence, I returned to Twitter.

It felt like seeing the home you grew up in – from infancy to teenage years – abandoned and dilapidated.

Not a pleasant feeling, I assure you! Thankfully, it’s not completely abandoned. Some people I used to talk with are still there and still active. That’s good. But most of the people I used to often interact with have left, or are much less active than they used to be.

Still, Twitter is my “home”. A ruin? Maybe. But still, I like to imagine it – and remember it – the way it was.

Wattpad is even worse, but Wattpad wasn’t my “home”. It was a place that helped me share my writing with the world.

So, despite all this, I’m back on Twitter (and Wattpad), and, hopefully, I’ll remain, although since the end of July, Twitter strongly discourages me.

To the great people I’ve mentioned – if you are reading this – I want to say, once again: Thank You! You can’t imagine how much what you’ve done for me means!!!

(Also if you want the links removed or more links added, just let me know.)

And for all those who came later and we connected, I thank you, too! You are amazing!

That’s all.

Love and kisses!

💖💖💖💖💖
😘😘😘😘😘

Yorgos KC